Am I a jerk?

Jmcdaniel0 · Nov 13, 2015

I only dream of my tank looking like that one day... I personally love Pauls tank... The glass Bottles and what people would call trash make his a truly unique tank. I love it.

cjsreefaus · Nov 13, 2015

Crusty salt lines running down the front of the tank in a pic sought of gets my ocd going . Algae is part of fun.

Paul B · Nov 13, 2015

Ugly tanks don't bother me but some things drive me crazy. Like when people take a picture of their tank and there is a big lettuce clip on the front glass, or if you can see their dog or someone throwing out the garbage through the tank.

Daniel@R2R · Nov 13, 2015

Paul B said:
Ugly tanks don't bother me but some things drive me crazy. Like when people take a picture of their tank and there is a big lettuce clip on the front glass, or if you can see their dog or someone throwing out the garbage through the tank.

People throw GARBAGE through the tank!?!?!

joshkirkland83 · Nov 13, 2015

Paul B said:
You may be a Jerk, but I never met you so I wouldn't know. As for ugly tanks, I love them. I also love nice tanks, I love Supermodels with tanks. I love Supermodels with ice cream. Ugly tanks are in the eye of the beholder. My tank has been ugly lots of times but those were the times I found them most interesting. I get bored now because my tank doesn't have problems but in the days of ich, black ich, white ich, green ich, hair algae, bryopsis, flatworms, round worms ring worms, bristle worms, cyano, velvet, bleaching, pop eye etc. That's when I really enjoyed this. Now I throw food in my tank, the fish eat it, I go to bed and start again. It is very easy to have a clean, beautiful tank. That is a no brainer and if you throw a lot of money at your tank, you can also have wall to wall corals. If that is what you want. I have a tank because it is interesting and to me, fun. I don't have a tank to be TOTM or anything else. If someone has a tank that you feel is ugly, don't look at it. Here is a picture of my tank many years ago. There was so much hair algae in there that trees started to grow. I almost threw in a weed whacker. But those were the days when I had the most fun. If those little annoyances didn't happen they would call this stamp collecting, and we know how exciting that could be. "OMG" my 2 cent stamp from Tunesia turned yellow.

Love that late 1800s bottle you got in there @PaulB

Tom Davey · Nov 13, 2015

This was a fun read, There were many comments I could have made here but everyone has said it all already.

Paul B · Nov 13, 2015

joshkirkland83 said:
Love that late 1800s bottle you got in there @PaulB

There are about 9 bottles in my tank. People hate that.

Daniel@R2R · Nov 13, 2015

Paul B said:
There are about 9 bottles in my tank. People hate that.

In the words of Taylor Swift,

Diesel · Nov 13, 2015

All what you have to do is just ask me and I stop posting pics of my tank!

joshkirkland83 · Nov 13, 2015

Paul B said:
There are about 9 bottles in my tank. People hate that.

Yeah i think its cool. I collect them in my other hobby. I have quite a few john ryans. There were made right here in my hometown of savannah, so i can always spot an old one a mile off.[emoji6]

Breakthecycle2 · Nov 13, 2015

I think people are misconstruing what I meant. I didn't mean people that need help with an algae issue. I meant, people that post a tank shot and say "what do you think?".

brandon429 · Nov 14, 2015

Well I read algae issues into every post even non algae ones

My initial concern upon reading any post is to discern whether or not they are witting or unwitting participants in the great eutrophication conspiracy

Triggreef · Nov 14, 2015

I definitely don't bring my "A" game every time I take a pic. That would require getting out the scraper mag to clean near the edges which I don't do more than a few times a month.

I'm not really sure if your talking about the film algae like that grows on the rock or plug after a week or so, or just referring to bubble, hair, and bryopsis etc? Personally I could care less about those as long as they aren't drowning out the corals, but a patch here and there not a big deal. I keep a ton of emeralds and they don't let anything algae grow. Only place I have algae is the fuge, and overflows.

Triggreef · Nov 14, 2015

Breakthecycle2 said:
I think people are misconstruing what I meant. I didn't mean people that need help with an algae issue. I meant, people that post a tank shot and say "what do you think?".

I don't think people should feel like they can't post a pic if they're excited about something else even if they have an algae problem, knowing or unknowing. Of course I don't really agree with the whole participation trophy thing either. Uhg so conflicting!

brandon429 · Nov 14, 2015

It takes tons of courage and honesty to post tanks of challenge shots we all see the really striking tanks...Or to be comfortable with ones tank such a little controlled growth is nbd, something has to feed the grazers and it's like that in nature.

When mine was wrecked with red gelidium mid conspiracy I didn't post any, so each time someone is just up front with what's up I have great respect for them. No better follow up to the initial post than the correction shot, when those can be attained.

Paul B · Nov 14, 2015

I have no problem showing pictures of my tank even when there are problems. Like here when I had Leeks on my front glass.

Mike in CT · Nov 14, 2015

Good thing about a algae outbreak.... No more need for unsightly lettuce clips!

Naiad · Nov 14, 2015

Paul B said:
I have no problem showing pictures of my tank even when there are problems. Like here when I had Leeks on my front glass.

What amazes me is your fish appear like they could care less about your leek outbreak. Most everything I have ever seen runs for the hills at the mention of leeks.